By Ernie Gonzalez — Executive Editor
Sometimes, a team needs a reality check.
If that means taking a tough 80-45 blowout loss to a team also competing for a conference championship late in the regular season, then sobeit.
Let’s be reasonable. The San Jose State women’s basketball team (15-7, 9-2 MW) on display in January was on a different gear.
Both the Spartans’ six-game win streak and 5-0 conference record on the road have come to an end. Ouch, right?
But maybe a loss, something that the Spartans haven’t been accustomed to lately, was exactly what this team needed. Hear me out.
Not a lot was going the Spartan way at the Arena-Auditorium since the start.
Senior guard Fieme’a Hafoka was practically taken out of the game with a pair of questionable foul calls just a minute apart from each other. It seemed like the officials didn’t let her get away with dare I say gentle two-hand touching.
Meanwhile when the Spartans were on offense and in similar situations, traveling violations were issued. But that’s neither here nor there.
From foul trouble to balls bouncing off shoes out of bounds, sometimes the ball doesn’t go your way, literally.
SJSU did make its mistakes, however. It was outscored a whopping 54-18 in the paint, handed Wyoming (11-9, 7-4 MW) an extra 21 possessions and was out-paced 23-2 in the points off turnovers department while putting up only 45 total points.
The Mountain West’s top scorer in Ayzhiana Basallo was held to just 11 points, nine below her average.
Tyra Whitehead, who is also in the running for the conference’s newcomer of the year alongside the aforementioned Basallo was limited to a trio of buckets and 8 rebounds, six of them coming in the first seven minutes of the game.
Wyoming has been the lone team this season that matched up well versus SJSU.
Granted, foul trouble did haunt the Spartans and forced Jamie Craighead to make adjustments she wouldn’t otherwise make.
Like giving minutes to Alexis Harris, for instance, the 6-foot-3 forward who has seen a total of 7 minutes all conference season and hasn’t scored a point with her only job being to establish her presence on the defensive end.
That was just one of a number of adjustments Craighead was strained to make as the lead grew.
But even at 7,220 feet, more was expected from one of the nations higher-scoring and faster-paced teams. Just 17 shots went through the hoop today for SJSU, four less than its previous season-low.
Left and right, all the numbers speak for themselves. It was a bad loss. That’s a fact. But the numbers speak for just one game. And incase the Spartans need a reminder, they should be grateful there is still a regular season to play.
A loss like this against Wyoming could have taken place in the conference tournament. Instead, seven games are left to be played.
SJSU will not get another taste of the Cowgirls though, as they were only scheduled to meet once in the regular season. So that crack at revenge will have to wait, at least for now.
This team knows its capabilities. It’s lived it. This team knows it has doubters. It’s silenced them.
But there is a reason those nonbelievers remain tight-lipped even after a loss this bad. Because this year’s SJSU women’s basketball team is different.
The same way they shrugged two long losing seasons off their charismatic shoulders, the Spartans will bounce back.
A home loss to Fresno State in overtime and a blowout defeat on the road to a team they can only meet again in the tournament on a neutral site.
The Spartans know who and maybe more importantly, what they’re chasing. Plain and simple.
SJSU will have an extended six-day break before its next opportunity to turn it around at home on Saturday, Feb. 8 at 2 p.m. against Nevada.
Follow Ernie on Twitter @superego1012